Am I a little nuts to choose BA? Help.

[starlucia]

I'll throw in my two cents, since my financial situation is closer to yours than some of the older expats who own property and/or live here on savings/foreign income (I'm also 30, hold a B.A. and an M.A., and living here on a tourist visa.) Practically speaking, the biggest problem with BA is the gigantic disparity between wages and cost of living. As a foreigner with neither DNI nor fluency in the language, you're in a difficult position in that respect (earning en negro wages that don't keep up with inflation, while paying tourist-rate rents.) With private health insurance at AR500-800 a month, cable/Internet around 400, dinner in a restaurant 100-200 per person, and a cafe con leche now 18-20, you have to decide just how cheaply you're willing to live in order to be here. Others have touched upon various other quality-of-life issues -- runaway inflation, lack of selection in consumer goods, high level of petty crime, and a culture of inefficiency/corruption. Maybe those things bother you, maybe they won't. The good thing is that since you'll be arriving as a tourist and working odd jobs en negro, there's no reason you can't just come to BA on a trial basis. If you decide you don't like it, buy a one-way bus ticket and just move on. However, if all you're looking for is Spanish immersion and a change in scenery, you could likely get far more for your buck elsewhere in South America.

 

[ScarlettTango]

Hi MemoryAtlas,

It is a risk. However, I believe you should be basing you decision on which city you most want to see. If you decide that Buenos Aires is truly the city you want to immerse yourself in, then it's a risk worth taking in my opinion. Don't they say that it's the risks we don't take that we regret the most?

If you are worried about coming here alone, I might add that I came here alone myself this year in April, aged 23, and have been fine. And I've been living in San Telmo, which isn't meant to be a safe area compared to Palermo. And I too couldn't speak any Spanish when I arrived!

 

[HeyBA]

@MemoryAtlas

Here's some basic Buenos Aires stuff that you may or may not know:

Spanish: The spanish here is quite unique. First there is the accent. The say double L or y sounds with an "sh" sound. So Cinco de Mayo is said Cinco de Maisho. The slang and many everyday words are different, and BA Spanish is often considered difficult to understand. People that speak fluent BA (or rioplatense) Spanish have no problems in the rest of the Spanish speaking world, but people that speak intermediate rioplatense Spanish often find it difficult to communicate with people from other countries. It's maybe like learning a bit of English from a cockney and then trying to ask for a hotel recommendation in Alabama.

Costs: Rent with all bills is much cheaper than NYC or LA, so do your own research on that. Now here's the rub, and there's lots of dispute about this, but I think that everything besides rent, at current prices converted to dollars is the same price as big US cities, with everything manufactured like clothes or electronics being double. So, besides a relative deal on big city rent, just forget any cost advantage in BA, in terms of your budget.

Work: Foreigners that come down to work in restaurants and bars here seem to glow a bit at first, then hate it. I think people make between 150 and 200 pesos per SHIFT. Something I saw over and over again was a new person working in the expat spots thrilled to be here and chatty to meet new people, to the point of giving their cell number to clients of the bar and things like that. Then in six months there's a scowl on their face and they look at you like you're a soldier in an occupying army. Bar and restaurant work is what people from less prosperous Latin American countries move to BA to do. There's no reason for a college-educated gringo to mess with it. Teaching English may be better, but seems to pay about 10 USD per hour, with 20 hours a week being full-time. So to be realistic, you're talking 800 USD max income in BA for yourself. And that's just enough for a room in a shared apartment and food, with maybe some change to buy a nightclub entrance with one free drink and stand there sipping that baby all night long.

All in all, If operational Spanish is your goal with your 5 grand USD, I'd go somewhere else for a three month stint. But if Spanish is a part of the fun, I'd wait, and save, and make that 5 grand 10 grand and then check out BA for a long-term budget visit.

 

[Davidglen77]

I used to have a small retail shop and putting aside ALL of the problems I had the one part that I enjoyed more than anything else was the fact that I got to meet so many people, both Argentines, and expats of every nationality. It is possible to come here and live on the cheap, there are some nice neighborhoods on the fringes of the city where you can find a room in a family's house. I had a few clients at my shop that used to advertise on this site: http://www.compartodepto.com/ and had really great experiences of renting to long and short term visitors to Buenos Aires. Check it out, prices are A LOT different than on Craigslist!

 

[fifs2]

I'll throw in my two cents, since my financial situation is closer to yours than some of the older expats who own property and/or live here on savings/foreign income (I'm also 30, hold a B.A. and an M.A., and living here on a tourist visa.) Practically speaking, the biggest problem with BA is the gigantic disparity between wages and cost of living. As a foreigner with neither DNI nor fluency in the language, you're in a difficult position in that respect (earning en negro wages that don't keep up with inflation, while paying tourist-rate rents.) With private health insurance at AR500-800 a month, cable/Internet around 400, dinner in a restaurant 100-200 per person, and a cafe con leche now 18-20, you have to decide just how cheaply you're willing to live in order to be here. Others have touched upon various other quality-of-life issues -- runaway inflation, lack of selection in consumer goods, high level of petty crime, and a culture of inefficiency/corruption. Maybe those things bother you, maybe they won't. The good thing is that since you'll be arriving as a tourist and working odd jobs en negro, there's no reason you can't just come to BA on a trial basis. If you decide you don't like it, buy a one-way bus ticket and just move on. However, if all you're looking for is Spanish immersion and a change in scenery, you could likely get far more for your buck elsewhere in South America.

All fair points StarLucia but honestly can you see a short term visitor needing cable or health insurance so that wipes two expenses of the list. I saw on another post someone posted laundry costs and I can tell from my eldest son's experience here he spent less than 0 on laundry and not because I did it for him because that again isnt even on his radar of important expenses...In reading all these posts I realise how much age makes you need things that just werent important in your twenties..oh to ber that young and care-a-damn again...!

 

[Lulu-Kyoko]

I just posted on another thread what I spent over the course of one month here in BsAs. It worked out to $2700-- but that is in large part because I didn't have any roommates, I spent $800 on Spanish, and I spent a ton of money on wine, cigarettes, coffee and bank fees. I would say-- based on today's prices-- that I could have lived more cheaply. If I was 23 years old, didn't take Spanish classes, toned down my vices a bit and was smarter with the banks, my monthly expenses could have been about $1500, maybe even lower.

 

[willwright]

My recommendation would for you to stay where you are. You are already living in the second largest Mexican city in the world. You don't have to move from there to learn Spanish. B.A. or any city south of the border doesn't have anything that you don't already have there, except higher prices and and even lower incomes. Its tempting to think moving will be an adventure, maybe it would, but after a couple of months when the money runs low you may end up regretting the move. You should really have a lot more in your pocket than a couple of months of income more like six months. You should also have an exit plan with money if it doesn't work out.

 

[trennod]

Lulu How much do you smoke?!?! I know they have just taken a 30% hike but at about $2 a pack, cigarettes remain one of the bargains of BA

 

[Davidglen77]

Some people may take this as a negative, but it's not meant to be. It's simply my view of living here now.......If I would have known what I know now about Argentina, having lived here for 5 years now, I would have not come to live here. I am sure some will criticize my statement, but I couldn't have possibly known what I now know, not having lived here, about how poor the quality of life is here at this point in time, how authoritative the government is, how just about everything is broken in some way or another, how contracts, guarantees, security mean next to nothing and if you try and claim your rights to anything, signed, legalized or not, you pretty much get ignored. The one great thing I have had in Argentina is a partner who has been loving and supportive all along (we have been together 4 years now) and I would have left long ago if it were not for him. As I see the deteriorating political picture unfold almost daily, more and more poor, homeless people on the streets, crime out of control and nowhere is safe anymore. People's complacent attitude about everything, everyday more vacant storefronts all around the city, constant work stoppages, more and more taxes, and of course the ever increasing inflation that is rising as we speak. I am seriously thinking of leaving I am about to throw in the towel.

 

[Lulu-Kyoko]

Lulu How much do you smoke?!?! I know they have just taken a 30% hike but at about $2 a pack, cigarettes remain one of the bargains of BA

They are 8.75 pesos a pack, 17 pesos if you buy two at once. So yes, very cheap compared to home (minimum $10 CDN). I think I blew most of my money hanging out in cafes.